My Favorite Time of Year - Guest Post by Dr. Ruby

Hi there!  Grammy said that even though she had a post planned about baby birds,  I can do a post all by myself first!  Yay, yay, yay!!!  Because I want to tell you why this is my favorite time of the year!  I bet you can't guess.  No?  Okay, here's why...

Grammy grows these special plants every year.  She started growing them a long time ago for the hummingbirds but now she grows them for me!  Because I like to eat the beans.  Yep, they are delicious!

Grammy took some pictures this morning so I could show you!  

First, this is what the plant looks like:

Grammy apologizes for the clashing red flowers, but the hummingbirds like them!

They are called Scarlet Runner Beans.  If you want to see more pictures of the flowers, with the 'other' Rubies (Ruby-throated Hummingbirds) you can click here.  I, myself, don't care about that, but you might. 

Although, I guess the flowers are good, because without them, there wouldn't be any delicious beans for me!

Grammy and I went for a walk this morning and when we came back I headed right for the porch swing.

Grammy said, "Wait a minute, Ruby!"  So I stopped, "What?"

She said I was too wet to go on the swing, but she had a surprise for me.  She pointed out a bean that was ready-to-pick and right at my height!  You can see it in the photo, right in front of the middle geranium flower.

Then,  I was so quick, I already picked half of it by the time she got her camera ready!

Yum, yum, yum!  They are chewy and tasty!  In this picture, I'm chewing half of it and you can see the other half is still on the vine.  Don't worry, it won't go to waste!

It takes a little tugging but I got it off...

 
And it's worth it!

I looked for more, but I'll have to wait for them to grow a little bigger.

Although Grammy picked one that was too high for me to reach and said I could have it for a snack later.  She's nice that way.

 There are lots more coming....because Grammy plants them in a bunch of places -- for me, and the hummingbirds as I said.  The hummingbirds only eat the nectar from the flowers so I guess that is okay.  I would love to eat lots more beans, but Grammy says it wouldn't be good for me to eat too many-- plus she has to let some keep growing to have seeds for next year.  I think that is a good idea!

Ready for the Ruby-throats!

Ready for the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, that is! 

Ruby, Phd, and I got the window feeder up on the kitchen window on Saturday.  That was one reason why I wanted to get the windows washed!

Dates for our hummingbirds to arrive back (or at least, the first date we’ve seen them) are anywhere from May 4th to May 13th, according to my records.  So I knew I really needed to get ready!  Here's a link to a hummingbird migration map for 2013, showing the dates they arrive in various locations.

I put up two feeders and I try to provide flowers they like.  This feeder is one I used to use, but it was hard to clean. 

 I switched to this smaller one, which is very easy to keep clean and has a bee guard.

Last year for Mother’s Day, I received this wonderful gift - a feeder that goes right on the window!

On Saturday I mixed up a batch of sugar-water, according to Julie Zickefoose’s directions.  Julie came up with a great way to make food for the hummies (and she also has a wonderful blog she co-writes with her Boston Terrier, Chet Baker... you should check it out!).

Here's what to do:  Bring water to a boil and then add an equal amount of sugar, let it cool and store that in your fridge.  Then, when you need to fill your feeders, take out that concentrated liquid and add water to it to the ratio of 1:3 (or 1:4, depending on the time of the season - I do 1:3 to start with).  I boil 2 cups of water and add 2 cups of sugar to make mine, simply because that amount fits perfectly in my  jar.  When I’m ready to fill my feeders, I take a 2 cup measuring cup, put 1 cup of water in it, then add the concentrated sugar-water until it comes up to the 1 1/3 cup line.  The beauty of this method is that you have a smaller amount to keep in your fridge, but it goes a long way so you don’t have to boil water and make it as often.  If you have larger feeders, you’ll probably want to do it in larger amounts.  But both of my feeders are small and I clean and refill them often, so this works for me.

Plus, smaller amounts are good this time of year -- when my refrigerator looks like this... full of stuff for the birds! Over-ripe bananas, grape jelly, and orange halves for the orioles (there is a full bag of oranges on the bottom shelf, too) and hummingbird nectar.

This morning I decided to finish getting ready for the hummies.  I carried their favorite geranium out of the sunroom and put it under their feeder.  I thought they might like the flowers on this kalanchoe, so I added it by the window feeder this year, too.

Geranium Vancouver Centennial and an orange-flowered Kalanchoe

Later in the summer, they will also have some of their other favorite flowers available to them.  These photos are from my back deck last summer:

The Cardinal Climber you see in those photos was a new plant for me last year.  It took a really long time to begin blooming, but once it did, the hummies absolutely loved it!

Another plant they love are the Scarlet Runner Beans I plant on my vegetable garden fence.  Apparently, I have not thought they are very photogenic though, because I don’t have any pictures of them!  The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds love them and so does Ruby, PhD... she loves to eat the beans!  She even picks them herself.  We don’t let her eat too many at a time, as I understand they can make you sick, at least if they are uncooked.  We don’t eat them, we just enjoy the flowers.

I did find an old photo from the year I had a light purple variety. 

 I was standing nearby taking photos of a hummingbird on the flowers, when it flew to a nearby Crab-apple tree and started drinking the sap from the holes a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had made in the trunk earlier!

It was darting in and out to sip the sap coming out of the holes!

 If you would like some Cardinal Climber or Scarlet Runner Bean seeds, I have some I saved  from my garden last year. I would be happy to share, while my supply lasts.

Soon it will be time to take a handful of the pretty bean seeds outside and stick them in the soil by my garden fence!

Meanwhile, I think I’m ready for the return of the hummingbirds!  I even have some cobwebs available to help them with their nest-building!